Theo Paphitis says ‘I’m in’
by Educate Magazine February 8, 2014 · All News
A National Enterprise Competition that last year delivered to over ten thousand young people in the UK has announced that Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis will be the new ambassador for this year’s challenge, following on from Lord Sugar.
The Ryman National Enterprise Challenge team held their launch event at the Wayra Academy in London with last year’s key stage 4 winners Strood Academy from Kent being presented with a cheque by the exam board OCR for £500 and Theo Paphitis and Charmaine Eggberry (Wayra) pledged a further £1000 each to the winning team.
Students and teachers from all over the country as well as sponsors Ryman, Gandys Flip flops, OCR, Staffordshire University and the challenges main ambassador Theo Paphitis, attended the event.
Youth Enterprise CIC, a not for profit organisation, aims to promote enterprise skills and provide training for young people across the country. They launched The National Enterprise Challenge in the last academic year and held their first finals in July, which was attended by over 700 people including last year’s ambassador Lord Sugar at the Troxy Theatre, East London.
As well as Theo Paphitis becoming the main ambassador of the programme, this year his company Ryman will also become the main sponsor.
Commenting on the deal Theo said: “I am delighted to be getting involved with this year’s National Enterprise Challenge, which will also be sponsored by my business Ryman.
“It is vitally important that young people develop the skills they need to succeed in the world of work and The Ryman National Enterprise Challenge helps to develop young people’s skills in this area. I’m looking forward to working with the team this year.”
Youth Enterprise CIC director, Michael Dyer, added: “We are all looking forward to working with Theo Paphitis and his company Ryman this year and making the challenge even bigger and better for the students taking part.”
Bookings for this year’s challenge are open with 50 schools already signed up for this year’s programme. They anticipate around 120 schools and over 25,000 students taking part this academic year.
